HomeBound
by Devil's-Smile
Summary: It's been three years since the game Sburb has ended, and the trolls have intergrated amoung the humans. While the game is something they can't forget, it's also something that they can't remember. Which is why they are unprepaired for when a few of thier new friends find a new game. This game has the potential to fix thier new society... or destroy it. ABANDONED TEMPERARIALY
1. Chapter 1

No matter how long he lived, the stars would always be the most perfect and most beautiful things that Sollux had ever and probably would ever see. Not that he'd tell anyone, least of all his moirail Karkat. No doubt they would tease him and he would never be allowed to live it down. So he would keep his secret fondness for the stars locked away from the world; at least for now, that is. Even so, he couldn't help but gaze out the window of the truck that Eridan was driving both he and Karkat in. He was taking them to a night club, the name of which he could not recollect. Sollux was sure that if he listened to one bit of the horrible noise that was pouring from the sea-dweller's mouth, he'd overhear the name of the club. All he remembered was that it was one of the supposedly unsegregated clubs in Chicago.

Ever since the trolls had been integrated into Earth, there were places they weren't welcome. Most of the world had been pretty accepting of them, but there were certain people who would probably get off on burning their hives to the ground and laughing as they rolled around in the ashes. That, however, was not the purpose of this night. From what Sollux had been able to understand when Eridan had arrived was that they were meeting up with Strider, Terezi, and Gamzee because they wanted to introduce a couple of new trolls that had just moved in from Manhattan.

In all honesty? Sollux was not in the mood. He already had to deal with Karkat making him spend time outside of the hive; now

he had to deal with everyone else? The only upside was that Feferi was supposed to show up later that night as well, otherwise he probably would have faked having to study for a 3-D Animation test. Currently, he was just trying to make it through a car ride with his moirail and his auspisitice in the same car. He was drifting off, thinking about the codes he had to write tomorrow, when Karkat waved a hand in front of his glasses, nearly colliding with them.

"Hey, fuckass, we're here. Get off your fucking lazy ass and get out of the fucking truck. It's vomit-inducing to have to sit next to this chumbucket." Karkat's typical angry voice sounded off, and just as usual every bit of it was either an insult or a demand. Eridan leaned forward so that Sollux could see his upset face.

"Chumbucket? Did you really just call me a chumbucket? I thought wwe wwere friends, Karkat!" It was almost impossible for Sollux not to grind his teeth every time he heard that ridiculous accent. He sighed and forced the door open, hopping out of the truck before his moirail could shove him out instead.

"Girlth, girlth… you're both fucking pretty. Can we pleathe jutht get inthide? It'th tho cold that I can feel my thuperior intellect freething ath we thpeak." Sollux tugged his jacket on as he walked away. He could hear both of them yelling responses, but he decided to ignore them and continue on his way, stopping only once he reached the front entrance. His quirky friends caught up to him a few moments later, arguing faster than either of them could breathe. He shook his head as Eridan opened the door; even before he had, the pounding of the music could be felt vibrating through the cement. With the door open, the loud and upbeat music assaulted their ears. The sea-dweller strolled right on in, his cape billowing slightly as he entered the still air of the club, so much warmer than that of the biting chill that permeated the Chicago wind.

"Ready to meet these girls? Davve said that they were 'cool' ."Eridan raised a single eyebrow. Of course the only thing he was thinking of was filling his quadrants, so Sollux decided to just stay quiet. Karkat, on the other hand, didn't share his ideology.

"Strider? You brought us here because Dave-Fucking-Strider said that they were cool?! You, Eridan Ampora, are the fucking stupidest creature to ever receive a motherfucking think pan, you shadow dropping, chitinos tunnel!" Eridan glared down at Karkat and continued on down a staircase, leaving Karkat and Sollux standing in the entrance. His moirail shook his head, his short horns flashing under his unkempt black hair. "You know if we don't follow the fuckass that he'll just end up killing everyone in there when these new trolls shoot him down for fucking matespriteship, right?"

"Then I guethh we have to follow him, right?" Karkat didn't bother answering. Instead, he headed down the stairs after Eridan, annoyance clear on his face. Sollux followed his friend down the stairs, trying hard not to laugh. Karkat was still trying to take care of everybody and keep them in line even though they had been out of the game for almost three years now. It was probably just habit, but Sollux also knew that it was just part of Karkat's attitude

It didn't take them long to find their friends; Eridan being the only person wearing a cape, Terezi the only one with a cane, Feferi the only one wearing goggles, and Dave at his turntables playing the music that everybody was dancing to. Dave had applied for this gig right after the end of the game, and had gotten an even bigger ego when he was hired. Terezi usually hung out with him whenever Karkat was busy, much to his everlasting annoyance. That was only because Terezi was his matesprite, of course. Which annoyed Sollux greatly, but it made Karkat rather ecstatic, so he never said anything. But if Terezi licked his face tonight…

"Karkles!" Terezi threw her arms around Karkat and kissed him full on the lips. Karkat barely caught her, stumbling slightly before finally steadying them. He blushed slightly when Terezi finally pulled back, giggling and smiling wide. He picked up her cane off the edge of Dave's system and wrapped on of her hands around it, a faint smile on his lips. "And how is my Karkles today? Hee-hee-hee!"

"I'm fucking fine, Terezi. Gog, there's no reason to act like a complete psycho about it." Karkat pulled back, leaving his hand wrapped around Terezi's. Despite his constant curses and all of the arguments, Terezi and Karkat really did love each other. That was how it always was with him; the worse the insults and the rude gestures, the more he actually liked it. For example, the more that he bitched at Terezi for being so "psycho", the more he actually enjoyed it.

Sollux slipped into the booth next to Feferi. Eridan and Gamzee were both leaning over the edge of the booth's back, each on either side of a troll Sollux could not identify. He took a moment to look her over as everyone laughed, as they would notice him the moment they were calm. This new troll's long choppy hair was pulled back, only a few long strands freed to frame her sharp cheekbones. Her cat-like horns could've put Nepeta's to shame, if Nepeta had been present, and her insignia was a set of claw marks that slanted up to the left. Glasses hid the sky blue of her bright eyes, and her sharp fangs protruded from black painted lips. All in all, she looked like someone who would beat the crap out of him, but was pretty no less. Just not his type.

"Sollux!" Feferi's arms chocked Sollux out of his silent observation as she hugged him. He laughed and wrapped an arm around her tiny frame. "How are you, glub?" He sighed happily. It always cheered him up to hear his friend's excited glubbing.

"I'm doing okay, Ff. How are you? I haven't theen you in quite thome time."

Feferi beamed up at him and shrugged. "I've been glubbing good." Sollux looked in the direction of the blue blood, silently asking Feferi who she was. "Oh, how stupid of me! This is Katana. She and her sister just moved in with Terezi. They used to room with Nepeta and Equius in Florida."

"'Sup maman?" Katana took this as her cue to speak. She leaned forward on crossed arms, her sharp nails tapping on the ceramic table top.

Sollux inclined his head slightly, "Nothing much. I'm Thollux." He offered the girl a hand, which she took, careful of her claw like nails. He noticed briefly that there were some deep scars extending from her wrist up into her sleeve, but brushed the thought off as she started to speak,

"Sollux, eh? That makes you one of our new neighbors. Sweet. Maybe you can hit us up whenever I ffeel like my next paparty." She smiled, flashing those dangerous teeth. The more she talked, the more that Sollux felt as though he were talking to Gamzee. She even seemed to be as relaxed as he was; her arms behind her head as she slouched down.

"Uth?"

"Yeeeeah, mame and mamy sister, Pop. You'll all be seeing her shortly." She gave a short nod as she smiled up at Strider. Strider nodded back and looked up at the empty stage, almost as if he was waiting for someone. Karkat joined the conversation as he and Terezi sat back down, Terezi balancing on his lap.

"What kind of fucking name is Pop? Was she born in the last three fucking sweeps or something? That's the only way some fuckass would name their fucking kid Pop." Karkat started to roll his eyes before he saw the careful look that Katana currently had.

"No. She's almost seven sweeps, same as me." She looked up at Strider and added, "That's about twenty-one years, maman."

"Then who the fuck named her?"

"Well, in all technicalities, her name is Poppii. With two I's." Katana shifted uncomfortably as she watched Karkat. "I don't think we've been introduced yet. I'm Katana Dweler."

Karkat's eyes seemed to jump two sizes in diameter at this. "Wait… Your sister's name is Poppii… And your last fucking name is Dweler…? Holy fucking shit. Poppii-fucking-Dweler is here? Right now?" Karkat jumped to his feet and started looking around, his eyes wide.

"What the fuck kk? What'th the big deal?" If Terezi could've rolled her eyes, she would've at this point. Instead, the troll shook her head and tapped her cane on the table.

"Poppii Dweler is Karkles' current idol. She competed on the Singing Bee and won. She's the first troll to do anything in the social media, and happens to be a candy red blood, and is therefore the idol of thousands. Including Karkles." She ended this with her signature giggle, and Sollux had to fight the urge to grit his teeth into a fine powder.

"Why don't all of you have dinner with us? Gog knows she could use it. She's been refusing to leave the hive since we got ourselves here." Katana examined her nails in a bored fashion, her eyes half closed. She looked up at everyone and flashed that friendly, relaxed smile. "I sure as ffuck don't care if you all wanna."

"Fuck yes!" Karkat leaned down and looked at her, his hands planted flat on the table. "I would fucking love to come to fucking dinner." A few laughs rose from his enthusiasm, but all in all, everyone agreed to attend dinner the following night. Right about then, the lights over the stage turned on and a relatively small troll in towering heels walked out.

Sollux was struck dumb the moment he saw her. She seemed nervous as she took center stage in front of the club, continuously fidgeting with her bracelets and the sleeves of her dress. On the right shoulder of her dress was her insignia, a bright candy red flower. Her hair had been cut into heavy layers on the top, where it stuck out any which way, but was long and smooth to her mid back on the bottom. There was also no way that you could miss her double set of horns, the uppermost pair of which shot straight up from her head, the shorter of which curled up and back, almost like a rams.

But none of that was what caught Sollux. It was the fact the he (and only he, as he was beginning to notice) could tell that this troll was, without a doubt, psionic.


	2. Chapter 2

Sollux had no idea how he knew, nor did he know why no one else noticed, but he was awestruck but the pulsing energy that he could practically taste that radiated off of her. He couldn't help but watch the girl, up until a pair of long fingers began to snap in front of his eyes.

"Hello? Alternia to Sollux, do you glubbing copy?" He snapped back and looked at the group in front of him. Feferi, Karkat, Katana, Gamzee, Eridan, Jade, Dave… Everyone except Terezi was staring at him. He flushed brightly and looked down. "What was that about?"

"I… Uh…" He shifted uncomfortably, his head down low enough that his bangs hid his glasses.

"Not laughing now, are you fuckass?" Karkat smiled smugly as he watched the girl on stage eagerly.

It then became apparent to Sollux that while he had been watching Poppii, she had had an entire conversation with Dave and Katana. He nudged Feferi gently and whispered to her, "Wait, what thong ith thhe going to thing?"

"How long were you zoning out?"

"It doethn't matter right now."

"I think she's going to sing an older song. Something called 'Tell Me You Love Me'?" Feferi turned back to the stage as Poppii cleared her throat.

"Um… H-h-hi everyone. I'm, uh, P-Poppii Dweler, and I'd like to, uh, sing an older All Time Low s-s-song." She flushed bright red, and took a step back. You could hear the whispers and a few snickers pass through the now silent club. Poppi clapped her hands to start the beat, and Strider started the track for her. She slowly smiled, and a feeling seemed to pass over the crowd as the nervous aura she had been giving off suddenly became confident.

"I've been played a fool four, three, too many times and when did lust for you become an organized crime?" Her voice was stronger, none of her studder breaking through as she took charge. Her hands found the mic, and she pulled it closer as she moved to the music. Sollux looked around the room and saw that everyone was cheering or completely silent, such as his moirail was."I tried to keep you honest babe, but I was just a pawn you played- the part so well it hurts to know you're gone!"

Her voice echoed through the club, and everyone who had previously been snickering and laughing at her stutter was now up and dancing, Sollux watched her with a harsh eye, trying to decide how he knew that she was psionic, when Katana grabbed him and yanked him out onto the floor. "Dance with mame, Sollux!"

"What are you doing?" He tried to yell at her over the music, but it was hard to even hear himself think.

"I'm papulling you away ffrom everyone before you cry out 'Thhe'th thionioc!'" Katana snaked her arms around his neck and looked past him to smile at someone before addressing him again. "We paputa lotta effort into hiding her papowers. It wouldn't do us good ffor you to ruin it when we just mamoved here, dipshit." Katana dug her sharp nails into his shoulder before spinning out and away from him, right into the arms of Eridan. It seemed as though he had followed them out onto the floor: but Katana didn't seem to mind. She took it in stride and danced up against him, her hands, hips, and legs brushing against him. "Gonna show mame what ya got, Ampora?"

Eridan seemed slightly shocked by her willingness, but then he became enthusiastic, dancing up a storm with the troll. She dug her fingers into his cape and pulled him closer, shimmering down him before pulling herself back up. Judging by the flush on Eridan's face, it was easy to say that this was the first time a troll (Or anything with the ability to move) had shown genuine interest in him. Katana's eyes darted back to Sollux, a warning clear on her face.

He walked back to his seat, the song just ending as he did. "Did you mean it? Could you feel it? When you broke into my head? Did you fake it, just to break another stranger in your bed? Was it worth it? Was it perfect? When you walked and left me cynical? Like you planned it, you're a bandit, just a no-good, two-bit, filthy, rotten criminal." Poppii drops down to her knees right on the last note, her head down and her hand around the mic stand. The light shut off no less than a second later, and the entire club went up in a roar.

Katana reappeared near Sollux, her fingers brushing his hair as he looked up. "Don't ruin this, got mame?" Sollux smiled, understanding in his mismatched eyes. There was a loud clamor as Poppii came off the stage, trying to discreetly join them at the table. It was not working very well. The crowd of humans and trolls were all crowding her, trying to get her to talk or dance with them. She kindly stuttered her way out of each offer, rushing as fast as she could to Katana's side.

"K-K-Katana! I need a l-l-little help." She hopped over the edge of the high backed booth, ducking under the table. Katana climbed onto the seat and planted her hands on the back.

"Get the ffuck away mamy sister, you ffucking ffans! Let her mamotherffucking breathe!" The blue blood glared down at the mob of humans and trolls, her anger striking the crowd, almost like it was its own physical force.

"How about you trespassers back the fuck up before I call the police and have you escorted out in a dozen cop cars?" Dave said casually as he wiped a rag over an old record. The crowd dispersed slowly, most of the people disappearing rather quickly. Sollux stared at the barely noticeable horns sticking up from underneath the table.

The troll slowly emerged from beneath the table, her horns slipping out, followed by black fluff. She slipped her arms out, but she got stuck at about her hips. She gripped the seat and tugged, but to no avail; she was really stuck. "C-c-can I have, uh… a little h-help?"

Katana reached for her, but froze when she was pulled out. Sollux tilted his head slightly as he moved his psionic arms around her waist, pulling her free. The blue blood turned toward him with disbelief in her eyes.

"T-t-thanks. I couldn't move at all…" Her voice trailed off as she realized that both seats next to her were unoccupied. She looked around, her mutant red eyes wide.

"Thorry. I didn't mean to thartle you." Sollux smiled at her and scouted down the seat until he was next to her. "I'm Thollux. Pleathe exucthe my lithp, I can't even thay my own name. What kind of bullthit ith that, huh?" He offered his hand, letting the energy crackle in his hand as she took it. An electric current sparked through them and Poppii jerked her hand back, her checks tinting lightly with red.

"You're name is S-S-Sollux? As in Sollux Captor?" The soft words almost didn't reach his ears, but he arched an eyebrow at her when they did. He almost couldn't think of what to say in return, so as usual he said the first thing that came into his head.

"Why the fuck do you know who I am?" He tilted his head to the side, eyebrows still raised.

"I…uh… Well you and the others are k-k-kinda… famous. Why wouldn't I recognize your name?" Poppii looked away, her cheeks flushed lightly. With a slight smile she continued on, "I'm actually… a really b-big… f-f-f-fan."

For once, Sollux didn't have a single thing to say. What could he say, after all? What did you say to the superstar who just told you she was a huge fan of yours?


End file.
